Side plate and door retainer construction



c. E. .loHANssoN SIDE PLATE AND DOOR RETAVINER CONSTRUCTON sept. 5, 19.67

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Y CARL E. JOHANSSON .llllil/ ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,339,323 SIDE PLATE AND DOOR RETAINER CONSTRUCTION l Carl E. Johansson, South Euclid, Ohio, assignor to The Youngstown Steel Door Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a

corporation od? Ohio Filed Oct. 21, 1965, Ser. No. 500,064 Claims. (Cl. 52-210) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A side wall construction having a unitary side plate and door retainer formed by a single element having a horizontal and two vertical webs, One vertical web and the horizontal web forming a retainer for mounting door having rollers and cranks.

This invention relates to railroad car construction and more particularly to a side plate and door retainer construction. Specically, this invention is directed to a side wall construction for a railroad car in which the side plate and door retainer are of a unitaryconstruction.

The .prior art designs of side plates and door retainers have generally contemplated the side plate as an element separate from the door retainer. Because of this, it is the usual practice from the car builder to provide the car side without the door retainer attached. The d-oor retainers are then applied to the side wall after the roof has been attached to the side plate. Ordinarily, attachment of the door retainer was performed by the railroads.

Another feature of the prior art door retainers has been the provision of a special flange which is designed to support the door in the event the door should become derailed from the track at the bottom of the door. This additional flange requires additional material thereby adding to the cost and wei-ght of the railroad car.

It is a primary object of this invention t-o provide a side plate which also functions as the door retainer.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a side plate and door retainer combination wherein the design of the side plate includes provision for supporting the door in the event of door derailment.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide a side plate and door retainer construction which is -assembled to the side wall by the car builder prior to the attachment of the roof.

Other objects and features will become more apparent upon a complete reading of the following description which sets forth in detail one approve-d means of carrying out the invention. Such disclosed means is not meant to be limiting inasmuch as it constitutes ybut one of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be applied.

In the drawings wherein like reference numerals indicate like parts in the various views:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a portion of a railroad car;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2 2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3 3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings and specifically to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a portion lof a railroad car which is indicated @generally by the reference numeral 10. The portion of the car illustrated in FIG. l includes a side wall 11 consisting of metal sheathing 12 and Z-shaped reinforcement posts 13. A door opening 14 is defined in the side wall 11, with the door opening being framed by Z-shaped door posts 15, 16.

The side wall 11 is supported on the underframe of the car and is connected thereto by a side sill construction which includes a side sill 17. Corner gussets 18, 19 serve as reinforcements for the corners of the door opening.

The upper edge of the side wall 11 is connected to the roof 20 of the car by a side plate construction, indicated ice . generally bythe reference numeral 21. Referring to FIGS.

2 and 3, the side plate 21 comprises a reversely bent body which includes a first Vertical web 23 and a -second vertical web 24 which is vertically and laterally offset from the first vertical web. A horizontal web 25 interconnects the vertically adjacent ends of lt-he webs 23, 24. These three webs together form a Z-shaped body. The metal sheathing 12 and posts 13 are received behind the web 24 and are secured thereto by -rivets 26. It will be appreciated that in a welded construction, weld 4material would be used to secure the sheathing and posts to the side plate. The upper end of the first vertical web 23 is bent at an angle to provide a supporting web 27 to which the roof 20 is secured by rivets 28. The side plate 21 extends along the entire length of the railroad car providing support for the roof 20 and as well for the side Walls. In addition, t-he side plate, by spanning the door opening, provides the necessary rigidityvfor the side walls at'the door opening.

The vertical web 24 is terminated at either side of the door opening thereby providing -a larger opening. A side plate reinforcement member 29 extends across the door opening 14 with the lower portion 30 of the side plate reinforcement member extending below the horizontal web 25. In the door opening where the vertical web 24 has been discontinued, the lower end 30 of the side plate reinforcement member thereby provides a surface against which the gasket on the car door may abut. As shown in FIG. 3, the side plate reinforcement member 29 is in vertical alignment with the inner leg 16a of the door post 16 and is secured by welds to t-he side plate and to the post. Thus, the lower end 30 of member 29, together with the legs of the door posts, provide a planar sealing surface for the car door gaskets.

The side plate 21 is also designed to function as a door retainer. To this end, the support web 27 includes a downwardly turned flange 31. The flan-ge 31 extends across the door opening and is substantially coextensive with the usual car door track on which the door is designed to be supported. As shown in FIG. 3, the ange 31 serves as -a top retainer for the door mechanism. Thus, the door which is ordinarily adapted for use in a car of this type includes cranks 32 and rollers 33. 'Ille rollers 33 are adapted to be received behind the flange 31, between the flange and the vertical web 23. The rollers 33 react against the flange 31 which provides a rolling support for the door as the door is moved along the length of the railroad car. In the event the door should ybecome derailed for any reason, the horizontal web 25 will provide a support on which the cranks 32 lof the door may rest thereby preventing the door from becoming completely separated from the side of the car.

Modifications and changes in the above-described invention will suggest themselves to those having ordinary skill in the art. Changes such as these are contemplated by the principles of this invention so that although for ease of description, the principles of the invention have been set forth in connection with but a single illustrated embodiment, it is not intended that this illustrated embodiment or the terminology employed in describing it is to be limiting: but rather, it is my desire to be restricted only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a railroad car having a side wall with a door opening defined therein adapted to be closed by a sliding d-oor including at least one 3 4 upper retaining crank and roller, the improvement tion thereof extending below said horizontal web into comprising; said door opening. a side plate; 3. T-he improvement of claim 2 wherein said side wall said side plate havin-g a longitudinal extent substanincludes door posts at the edges of the door opening;

tially coextensive with said side wall; 5 each of said door posts including a leg substantially said side plate including a irst vertically extending web parallel with said side wall extending into the door portion secured to the outer side of said side Wall, opening; a horizontal web portion extending inwardly from said side plate reinforcement member being in subthe top margin of said rst vertical web portion and v stantial vertical alignment with said legs of said door overlying the upper edge of said side wall, a second post whereby said reinforcement member and said vertical web portion extending upwardly from the indoor post legs form a planar surface for engegement ner margin of said horizontal web and terminating with a car door when a door is inserted in the door in a supporting surface at the upper end thereof; opening. said supporting surface extending transversely of said 4. The improvement of claim 3 wherein said side plate side wall and being adapted to support the roof of reinforcement member is secured to said second vertical the railroad car; web; said supporting surface further including a depending said legs of said door posts having a recess at the tops retaining ange along at least a portion of the thereof; and length thereof; said reinforcement member being received in said rethe free edge of said depending ange being spaced cess and secured to said door post.

vertically above said horizontal web and spaced later- 5. The improvement of claim 3 wherein the top of said ally from the second vertical web of said side plate; door post is secured to said horizontal web. said upper retaining roller being received between said second vertical web and said depending retaining References Cited ange with the roller in engagement with said flange UNITED STATES PATENTS for rolling m-ovement therealong. 2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said rst Vertilsgllirlt-t-l cal web extends along the length of said side wall and 2,991,733 ,H1961 Shaver et al 105 409 terminates at the door opening;

a side plate reinforcement member secured to said side DAVID J WILLIAMOWSKY Primary Examiner plate;

said side plate reinforcement member including a por- KENNETH DOWNEY, Examiner- 

1. IN A RAILROAD CAR HAVING A SIDE WALL WITH A DOOR OPENING DEFINED THEREIN ADAPTED TO BE CLOSED BY A SLIDING DOOR INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE UPPER RETAINING CRANK AND ROLLER, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING; A SIDE PLATE; SAID SIDE PLATE HAVING A LONGITUDINAL EXTENT SUBSTANTIALLY COEXTENSIVE WITH SAID SIDE WALL; SAID SIDE PLATE INCLUDING A FIRST VERTICALLY EXTENDING WEB PORTION SECURED TO THE OUTER SIDE OF SAID SIDE WALL, A HORIZONTAL WEB PORTION EXTENDING INWARDLY FROM THE TOP MARGIN OF SAID FIRST VERTICAL WEB PORTION AND OVERLYING THE UPPER EDGE OF SAID SIDE WALL, A SECOND VERTICAL WEB PORTION EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM THE INNER MARGIN OF SAID HORIZONTAL WEB ABD TERMINATING IN A SUPPORTING SURFACE AT THE UPPER END THEREOF; SAID SUPPORTING SURFACE EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF SAID SIDE WALL AND BEING ADAPTED TO SUPPORT THE ROOF OF THE RAILROAD CAR; SAID SUPPORTING SURFACE FURTHER INCLUDING A DEPENDING RETAINING FLANGE ALONG AT LEAST A PORTION OF THE LENGTH THEREOF; THE FREE EDGE OF SAID DEPENDING FLANGE BEING SPACED VERTICALLY ABOVE SAID HORIZONTAL WEB AND SPACED LATERALLY FROM THE SECOND VERTICAL WEB OF SAID SIDE PLATE; SAID UPPER RETAINING ROLLER BEING RECEIVED BETWEEN SAID SECOND VERTICAL WEB AND SAID DEPENDING RETAINING FLANGE WITH THE ROLLER IN ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID FLANGE FOR ROLLING MOVEMENT THEREALONG. 